My name is
by GriffinFromGauda
Summary: A continuation of where the anime ends, with new arc and resolution as well as some additional backstory for the body swapping. Criticism is highly solicited.
1. Encounter

The day started off like any other. The same sun, the same room, the same Taki. Sometimes, he missed his younger, aggressive self. At least, when he was getting into fights every fortnight, there was some spice to life.

Taki could feel his father's gaze on him as he emerged from his room.

"Ah, Taki, got any interviews today?"

"Yes, I have to go to Marunouchi this afternoon."

"Remember to iron your suit."

With that remark, his father left. Taki could feel the disappointment emanating from him recently, after all he had been ironing that suit for the past year without result.

"Oh well, maybe today is the day."

In his voice, Taki found not the hope he had wished to express but caustic sarcasm.

Tsukasa and Takagi already had jobs, why did he have to be the odd one out?

It probably had a lot to do with barely scraping by in college, Taki reasoned. Yet, he knew that wasn't all of it. Truth was, he hadn't really felt any of what he had been doing for a long time. Ever since that trip to Itomori. He might have repeated the words a younger, fierier self would have said yet there wasn't that feeling behind it. Passion. He was an artist, not an accountant. Without passion, he was as useful as a blind pilot.

His future looked bleak but if he was being honest with himself, he really didn't care. It didn't matter if he ended up in some dead end job, the void in side him would be the same as it would be if he became a partner with a corner office. The void that had sucked all joy out of his life, leaving a hollow shell of a man in his place.

_Itomori._

What had happened there?

_I will find out, today_

You can't, Taki reasoned. You have an interview today, you need a job.

_You won't get it anyway_

_Shut up! _

Taki stood up. Yes, it was pointless to run after a job for himself. He truly wouldn't feel any better. However, others would. He couldn't give up, his father was crushed beneath the debts that his mother had run up. He was only his hope for a peaceful retirement. A minimum wage job wouldn't make much of a dent in those debts, he would need much more. A lot more.

Even as he convinced himself, however, Taki felt his shoulders droop. Ponderously, he dressed and left. Maybe he would ride the metro all day again, he never got tired of watching the Tokyo skyline flash by.

Taki eyed the building he remembered only too well from his college field trip.

"This, students, is the shame of our trade. In this work you see ugliness so profound it touches you to your core. In fact, I'm unsure if it is safe to show this building to those new to our trade such as yourselves, it might corrupt your soul. I have showed you countless buildings that I wish you to emulate, this is one I wish you never come close to imitating in any way. If any of you ever sign a contract that includes demolishing this evil abomination, I'll pay good money to be the one to press the button. Hate is such an overused word, yet you will find that when you come to love architecture you'll truly come to hate this!"

The building really was ugly, Taki thought as it slipped by. Someone who designed that got to design a skyscraper, though. Maybe his cause wasn't so hopeless.

A metro running parallel to his suddenly cut off his view. As it sped by, Taki lowered his eyes.

_Taki kun_

Deja vu. He had been on this metro before, not pressed up against the window but standing comfortably in the middle. A ribbon, a red ribbon.

_Taki kun_

The eyes that were watching him when he raised his face were new, yet old. He did not know their owner, yet he knew them. They widened as he felt his own eyes widen. Who was she?

_Taki kun_

With a sudden lurch, the metro was gone. They had entered the terminal. Was this the terminal that woman had gotten off at?

Taki jumped off the compartment and ran, harder than he knew he could. Outside the crowded terminal, his progress became noticeably easy though fatigue began to catch up.

_Taki kun_

A red ribbon, he was almost about to touch the woman's shoulder when he realized she was a blonde.

Taki had bemoaned his lack of passion this morning yet passion seemed to be pushing him closer to a cardiac arrest with every step. He couldn't slow down, not when she could be vanishing even now in the teeming crowds.

_What if she didn't get off here?_

Taki shook his head. Her eyes, she had recognized him, hadn't she?

_You saw what you wanted to see_

The sinking feeling in his stomach grew with every passing minute. He had rushed far from the station, driven by an almost instinctual sense of direction. Wouldn't it have made more sense to stay there?

Taki felt a laugh well up inside. He wished to be sensible about chasing a woman he had seen across the glass screen of a metro. Of all the things he could have chosen to do today, he decided to have a breakdown.

Well, it beat being rejected by another scrupulously polite suit.

_Isn't that her?_

Framed against the sky on top of a set of stairs, the mysterious woman stood.

_Please speak._

Taki could feel his heart beat now. He knew this woman, he knew her deep inside. Yet, he did not know how. He had no reason to talk to her. This feeling he had, of this great cavern deep within, had always struck him as somewhat psychotic. After all, it had all started with that sudden trip to Itomori, a trip he still could not recall in full detail. What if this was all a delusion? Even if it wasn't, he hadn't told anyone what he truly felt yet. Not Tsukasa or Takagi, not Okudera not even his father. Why did he want so desperately to tell this stranger what he had so far guarded as his closest secret.

The woman drew closer with every step he took. The gap between them closed till finally they were level. Taki's feet continued their rhythmic movement, although it was as if a colossal weight was added to his chest with every step he took. In a few seconds they would be strangers again, just two solitary figure among the thirteen million that lived in the metropolis. He would never see her again in his life, this feeling would pass and he would not be humiliated publicly. Yet, this face, it seemed to him as well known as his own.

He had reached the top of the stairs. He turned to find the woman still descending, her cascading black hair moving away from him one tantalizing step at a time, the red ribbon bobbing goodbye.

_The ribbon._

"Hey!"

Taki waited nervously as she turned. That ribbon, he remembered a hand stretching out to him across a crowded metro, stretching out that ribbon. Or one that looked like it any rate. Whose hand was it? He did not know, yet there was an intense longing associated with this memory, a longing he knew only too well for the past five years.

"Haven't we met?"

She turned slowly, her eyes finally meeting his. In her eyes Taki saw an odd mixture of hope and fear. Sunlight glinted as a bead of water rolled off her chin. Water?

"I thought so too."

Her face broke into a wide smile as the tears rolled freely down her cheeks now. Taki felt a tear of his own join hers on the concrete steps. That voice, it seemed to him as well known as the face it emerged from. For the first time in many years, Taki felt he was where he was supposed to be.

"Your name?"

"Tachibana Taki."

"I'm Miyamizu Mitsuha"

Taki descended the stairs, imitating his father as nearly as he could to avoid appearing too eager. Mitsuha, waiting at the bottom, fought with her urge to run up the stairs. As she attempted to tuck her hair, disheveled from the breathless sprinting she had just done into shape, she felt the wetness on her cheeks.

_You just cried in front of a total stranger because he asked you if you had met before._

The realization filled Mitsuha with burning shame. Hearing him get closer, Mitsuha buried her face in her hands, maybe he hadn't noticed from afar.

"Here, I..."

Taki was stretching out a napkin, it seemed her ploy hadn't worked.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

With a few furious dabs, her cheeks were dry again and Mitsuha looked up.

"Do you remember where we met?"

"Not really. I seem to remember that ribbon on a metro though."

"You mean the corded braid?"

"Yes, only it was being offered to me according to what I remember, which obviously isn't the case. It might have been a similar braid, did you call it?"

Taki paused, a frustrated look coming over his eyes.

"I seem to even recall a voice calling out to me but I just can't remember the face. Do you remember by the way?"

Mitsuha shook her head.

"Only, when I saw you on the metro I felt as if-"

"I was looking in a mirror?", Taki completed.

Mitsuha's expression reflected the shock she felt.

"You too?"

"Yes, only I don't know why. We don't look alike, at all."

In spite of the immense relief that was washing all over body, Mitsuha felt a tiny stab of disappointment. The emotions that had begun in the aftermath of the meteor strike, emotions from which only her dreams were a refuge seemed to have dissipated. There seemed to be peculiar sense of contentment that had settled over her, yet her curiosity was still sharp.

The events now nine years past had intrigued her for a long time. She had spent many hours on the internet, attempting to find fresh information on the day that had become a legend among conspiracy theorists. After the comet strike, she couldn't explain to her father why she had been so unusually assertive on that day, why she had convinced him to hold that drill. Eventually, her father had chosen to disguise her role in the affair and attempted to pass off the drill as a pure coincidence however questions continued to be asked about the explosions in the power plant. She had felt that her sense of incompleteness was tied entirely to the events of that day and yet it seemed the resolution she had been hoping for would not arrive from the man standing in front of her, a man who seemed to be the cause of and the cure for it.

The feeling was fleeting, however, and the powerful euphoria that had flooded her the moment she had seen Taki soon came back.

"Tachibana san, are you going this way by chance?"

Mitsuha kicked herself mentally as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Of course he wasn't going her way, he had been going in the opposite direction. If only she had thought it out...

"Yes, may I accompany you?"

Taki blushed lightly as he realized how transparent the lie must be. He didn't wish to appear desperate in front of her yet here he was messing everything up.

"If it would not be too much trouble"

"So where are you going?", Taki asked as he fell in beside her.

Mitsuha fumbled. Truth was, she did not know. She might have been in Tokyo for close on two years now but she still wasn't familiar with the city, she had never visited Shinjuku before. To admit that she got off at Yotsuya solely to meet Taki would however be mortifying.

"You know, just going to meet some friends at a cafe."

"Oh? Is it that place?"

In front of them had materialized a small cafe, as if right on cue. In the bottom floor of a narrow building, Cafe Tabac was a cozy affair, perfect for couples. Not so much for friend groups. Mitsuha hoped Taki wouldn't be so observant as she pulled out her phone and faked a a look of annoyance.

"My friends seem to be running late. Would you mind talking this over till they get here?"

Taki had pulled out his phone in the meanwhile, Mitsuha noticed he seemed to have a frozen expression.

"Something important come up?" Mitsuha cursed herself, she probably appeared crazy. After all, if a guy began to weep rivers on seeing her, she would be getting as far away as possible, not sitting down at a cafe with him.

"Oh no, it's nothing important. Just...not hungry. I'll sit with you, though."

Mitsuha emerged from behind the menu with a smirk on her face.

"You know I have a company card for expenses like this."

"Huh? Still..."

"Come on, you must be hungry. It's bad manners to let a lady eat by herself."

"Is it?"

"Sure it is, at least it is where I'm from."

Taki inclined his head

"Huh? Are you from out of town?"

"Yeah, I'm from..."

"A town in Gifu."

The lie slipped out before Mitsuha could catch herself. Her past life was too much trouble, you never knew who was one of the Itomori truthers and if they got to know she was the daughter of the mayor who was at the center of every theory, at the very least she would be subjected to questions she knew she could not answer truthfully without being put in a psychiatric institution. She hadn't wanted to lie to Taki though. She wanted to ask him if his feelings too were linked to the comet's arrival. How could she do that now? Why was she such a good liar?

"Oh, so you're from one of those small towns where there are pubs but no cafes?"

"Huh? That's a weird way to describe them."

"Is it? I think stereotypes about dying small towns are the same everywhere."

"Yeah, I guess. So, Tachibana san, you are a Tokyo boy through and through?"

"100% purebred, never set foot outside it. Well, except that one time..."

Taki's phone buzzed.

"Sorry about this, I'll try to keep this quick."

Mitsuha signalled that she was going over to order and left the table as Taki began talking.

It felt odd but there was a certain degree of familiarity in these streets, Mitsuha realized as she stared out the glass doors. She had never come here yet she knew the way to the shrine in front of which she met Taki, she knew instinctively which way the exit was from the metro station. Even this cafe, it seemed familiar, like she had looked at it a thousand times but never entered it before. It could just be her imagination, the nervous tension from this impromptu meeting with Taki definitely could make it play up.

_Taki kun_

Mitsuha shuddered a bit imagining herself calling him by that name. Yet, it felt like she had said it countless times before, it felt like she had never wished to stop saying that name.

_Nerves_

Unbidden, images of nerves floated to her mind. Narrow, twisting vines carrying one's life in them. Interconnected with each other, a network spread all over each person's body. What if they were all linked to a greater system? What if the musubi of her grandmather's tales was what connected each person, placing them in their neat little box of space time, with all the others in that same box. Linking past, present and future, lovers and strangers. A LAN for life, the Universe and everything.

_I sound like a pretentious fanfiction writer_

Mitsuha ordered two cappuchinos, it seemed as if Taki had refused out of financial concerns but she couldn't dismiss the chance that he really wasn't hungry. Besides, if the conversation flowed like it had, the coffee would work as well as anything else. At the end of the day, Mitsuha didn't have any company card after all.

Taki was wrapping up the call as she returned, coffee in hand.

"Ok I'll be there, you don't need to bother me again."

"Yes, I understand."

"Yes."

Taki hesitated a bit and then finally came out clean.

"So I have an appointment at 4PM today, I'll probably need to leave around a quarter past three just to be safe."

"Oh, that's OK. It's only 2 right now."

Taki nodded with a smile. A smile that seemed to change the light in the cafe.

_Kataware doki_

"Sorry, I didn't get that."

"Ehhh"

"You just said something, something ki I think?"

"Oh no, no, that was nothing. Anyway, Tak-"

Mitsuha caught herself. What was she doing?

"Oh, it's about that. You can call me Taki if you want, I'm not really one for formality."

"I-I see."

The instances of deja vu were getting too numerous. It seemed like everything around her triggered her past memories. Tessie was always harping on about rebirth and multiverses but this was the first time she was seriously considering it. Was she close to Taki in her past life? But that wouldn't make sense, given that she was older than him by 3 years. What was happening?

The sound of her ring tone broke her stream of consciousness.

Shrugging her shoulders apologetically at Taki, Mitsuha received the call.

"Hello, boss."

"Where are you? The interview starts at 4!"

"Wait, what? I thought it was at 8."

"So did I. Apparently our interviewee had a different idea. Get to the studio before 3:30."

Mitsuha put her phone down.

"Tachibana san, I'm sorry but there's an emergency at work. I must leave immediately. However, I want to make this up to you."

Taki looked bemused

"Make up what? I was getting free coffee."

"Well, a free dinner would go well with that, won't it? How about next Saturday?"

"This is from your company card too?"

"Yeah."

"Wow, the poor shareholders."

"So that's an yes?"

"Uhh...sure. You'll need my number to set up it up though."

_Of course I forgot that_

Taki watched through the glass windows as Mitsuha marched resolutely to the road, hesitated, did an about face and marched right back and stuck her head in through the door.

"I'll text you the details, Taki kun."


	2. Inspiration

_What a weird experience _

Taki's mind revolved around the events that had unfolded one after another since the morning. Specifically around the slight jerk of Mitsuha's face as she ended the _kun_, the tomatoish hue it had taken on right after and the way she had gotten slammed right in the face by the swing door that she had forgotten to keep propped open.

_Company card, huh?_

It seemed highly unlikely that someone that young had access to one, especially considering that she appeared to be a anchorwoman rather than a corporate executive who would actually need to host business dinners.

_She really wants to meet me_

Not that he could fault her. Since she had left, he had obsessively stalked her social media, sparse as it was. It seemed she had only received her big break fairly recently, prior to it she had been working in Kyoto. There was only so much data that could be gathered from a bare bones Facebook account, though. She didn't have any friends added and only posted links to her interviews. Her bio data was almost completely empty.

_Well, at least she's good at internet security. _

Still, he could not let the lie about the company card stand for long. On the other hand, he couldn't even purchase the leftovers at the restaurant Mitsuha had picked with his own money, recent developments had provided another compelling reason for his job hunt to go perfectly.

"Tachibana Taki"

"Yes, that's me!"

Taki got off the sofa and walked into the room, mentally noting.

_Eighteen. _

"Your grades in college are quiet sub-par, why do you think you can work here?"

_Not pulling any punches today, huh? _

"I have a reason to be above par now."

"What do you mean?"

Taki focused on the new interrogator, the senior partner.

"Sir, I know this might sound unusual but I really can't explain it any better. For the past five years I've suffered from a complete lack of inspiration. In college, I could not think of a single original plan, so I simply imitated others, though not with the same degree of success as several of my classmates. I felt like a fraud every time I sat down to make another sketch, if I could not think of anything new, what right had I to call to myself an architect? I was merely a clerk who knew mathematics sufficiently to get his architecture degree. However, now, even sitting outside this room I came up with a plan I could never have come up with at college. If you would give me the chance, I wish to refine this plan further at home and present it to you in a week's time. I ask only that you reserve judgement till then."

A slow smile played across the partner's lips.

"Very well. Come to my personal chambers one week from now, at exactly this time. If I like the plan, I'll hire you on the spot. I don't know if you planned out your entire outburst beforehand but if you did, I still applaud you for taking the risk you took. Not many people would call themselves frauds in front of their prospective employers. You deserve a shot for having the courage to do so."

"Th...thank you."

Taki could barely believe that it worked. Halfway through his long winded rant, he had wondered if he was pulling off really elaborate career seppuku. If even one of the interviewers had asked him where he found inspiration or how he knew he wouldn't lose it again he would have been hard pressed to give them a satisfactory answer. Thankfully, the senior partner had weighed in and it was clear that his word was always the last word.

A cool breeze had started up as Taki emerged from the office. Not a success but not a failure like the previous seventeen attempts either, Taki could barely wait to get home so he could save forever on paper that which his mind might easily forget. Now, to find the people who had so rudely interrupted his time with Mitsuha.

A hand suddenly fell on his shoulder from behind.

"Tsukasa, can't you say hello like a normal person?"

"No, I want you to blush like you did that time at school again."

"Piss off, I only blush for your sister."

"I don't have a sister, Taki."

"Disowning her for going out with me seems kind of harsh."

"My my, is it high school again?"

Tsukasa smiled at Okudera

"What high school? I'll be looking for a repeat of that day's blush from Taki _kun _till I'm in the grave."

"You shouldn't say stuff like that, it just increases your chances of finding an early one."

"Let's continue this somewhere warmer", Okudera broke in.

"If that is what Senpai commands."

"We exist merely to carry out Senpai's whims."

Taki sat across from Okudera and Tsukasa at the bar. There was a baseball game on and a steady stream of conversation flowed around them, creating an atmosphere that was soothing and anonymous.

"So, Taki, how did your interview go?", Okudera asked in a neutral voice.

"I might have to hold off on going back to serving tables just yet."

She leaned forward.

"Well, you know, if you need some extra cash I do have this skirt that I'd love to get some hand stitched flowers on."

_This joke again. _

Taki had brought up his friend's allegations of irregular behaviour to the psychiatrist, along with his own inability to remember such behaviour later. The confused look he had been given was one he knew too well, he had received it when he was recounting his obsession over Itomori as well. In the end, it had been left unresolved and the psychiatrist had simply told him to ensure he took his medicines to ensure such episodes didn't happen again.

"By the way, Taki, who were you with when I called?"

Taki did his best impression of a poker face and turned towards Tsukasa.

"No one, I was alone."

"Really? Then you had better explain your rudeness."

"I'm only polite with humans."

"Rude. Here's your sake." Tsukasa extended the bottle in Taki's direction.

As his blood alcohol content rose over the next two hours, Taki found his thoughts muddling up. Like threads, they seemed to begin out of nothing and collapsed in on themselves. Yet, he found himself coming back frequently to Mitsuha. He had tried over hours to recall someplace where he might have met her and came up with nothing. Why did he have such a visceral reaction to her? Even in a mind dulled by heavy drinking, there was a burst of activity every time he remembered her face.

_A mirror. _

It was merely a flash, yet Taki was sure it was. That face, he had seen it in a mirror. How could he, though? He shook his head, Okudera and Tsukasa had gone home half an hour ago so he was all alone. A drowsiness that had first reared it's head right around when they left was possessing Taki now, he could barely keep his eyelids open. Taki felt his senses gradually shut down, the gradual numbing that accompanies sleep radiating up from his extremities inwards, towards his core.

Mitsuha was running along a mountain road on a dark night. Far from Tokyo and it's technological bubble, where night still differed from day, she ran as her vision blurred. When they cleared again, she was running along a wet Tokyo street, hopping over puddles as bystanders stared at her.

She burst awake with a start, one hand shooting up in accordance to where it would be in her dream. Dawn was breaking as she yawned and stretched, feeling an odd looseness in her limbs. She found herself lying on her side. As she gradually became more aware of her senses, she realized she was lying there in her work clothes.

_Guess I was too tired to change._

Yotsuha walked into the dining room, freshly awake and still in pajamas, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"You're up early today."

Mitsuha had been staring out the window, the morning breeze playing gently through her hair as she sipped a cup of coffee.

"You know I used to wake up by myself when I was in college?"

"And how many times did you skip the first class?"

Mitsuha stamped her feet in mock anger.

"No respect for your elders, kids these days!"

"Wisdom lies in the mind, not the body."

"Is that your excuse for not having any?"

"Someone who forgets where her own home is shouldn't lecture others on wisdom."

Mitsuha looked up from her cup with a look of surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday night, did you forget? Well, it makes sense. You were trying to open the neighbour's door, he directed you this way."

"Eh? I did that?" Mitsuha blushed. As she tried to remember, Mitsuha became aware of the fact that her memory of the previous day ended with her walking into the bar. She had planned to just order her regular and leave, had she gotten drunk and forgotten somehow?

"Hey, Yotsuha, did I appear drunk?"

Yotsuha smirked, "So that was it, my guess was right. No, you didn't appear drunk, sis. Just confused."

"So, were you drinking with some guy?"

Mitsuha blinked. "No, no. What guy?"

"Why are you smiling?"

Mitsuha cursed her mind for the image of Taki it had flashed her the moment Yotsuha brought up guys.

"No reason. Why are you still sitting here? You'll get late for school."

"You want to get rid of me so bad you forgot it's Saturday?"

That's right, she had forgotten it was Saturday. She had been so busy the last few days she had forgotten her date with Taki. Was it a date? She had wondered if she had forced the dinner on him against his will several times since that date. Cougar, the Americans called the stereotypical older woman. Well, she wasn't that much older, she had reasoned. Still, what if Taki was merely attending to be polite?

Mitsuha had been looking through Taki's social media in her free time during the past week. Compared to her, his life was entirely documented online. She found herself staring jealously at Taki and his friends as they were pictured in various poses across Tokyo. The circumstances of her arrival aside, Tokyo had been everything she had dreamed of, to be born there seemed to be a divine blessing.

"Well, I do need to answer nature's call as much as I would like to stay and annoy you. See ya, Sis!" Yotsuha announced as she marched off to the washroom.

Mitsuha resumed staring out the window. How different was it from Itomori, it was all she had ever desired. The sun didn't rise over mountains here, it rose over skyscrapers. The trains came every two minutes instead of hours. No one knew her and she knew no one. So how did she know him?

Oh well, thinking about it didn't seem to help much. Mitsuha had planned out a day of preparation prior to what she felt was the most critical night of her life, Sayaka would have to be woken up and dragged along.

Starting up her phone, Mitsuha was surprised to find her previous layout changed and the notes app brought into the main page. She wondered if it was a bug as she moved the app back to it's rightful place on the last page, after all she never used it nowadays.


	3. Preparation

Taki was on top of a hill. Around him, on all sides the plains stretched out to the horizon. A gentle warmth permeated the air, countering to some extent the sporadic biting breeze. The blood red sun was almost out of sight, the stars at the other end of the sky had already begun shining. Shining far brighter than any of them, however, was a brilliant jet of light, streaking across the sky.

"Taki!"

_A girl's voice?_

"Taki!"

This time, it was definitely masculine hands that shook him, though. Blinking his eyes open, Taki found his cheek resting on wood. Puzzled, he raised his eyes to find his father glaring at him.

"Isn't that for work? Look what you've done to it."

Taki looked down at the paper on his desk. What had been up til then his 22nd attempt at a design for Yamamoto and Associates had turned into a soaked napkin, the precise lines he drew with geometrical accuracy smudged into each other.

"Gaahh.."

"It's good that you are not spending the whole day loafing around anymore but, don't overexert yourself. And don't drool, aren't you supposed to be an adult?"

Red faced, Taki crumpled the paper into a ball and hid it in the ball of his fist and threw it into the dustbin. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his father exit the room.

_I'm dreaming about Itomori again?_

It wasn't very surprising, he seemed to relive that day he had spent at Itomori over and over again in his sleep. It was always the same scenery, sometimes he was annoyed with his dreams for their lack of originality. The meteor, though, that was new. Perhaps his brain had finally decided to incorporate that bit of trivia about Itomori into the dream. Still, if he was going to dream about that, wouldn't have been way better to see it up close, right before it crashed?

Itomori would have to wait, though. It was D Day and his troop ship was pulling up to the beach. If he listened intently, he could almost hear the machine guns chattering and men screaming. The Battle of the First Date, casualties-incalculable. It was too bad that one couldn't go on a date with a headband on, it really would've set the mood. Taki reconsidered. Despite his grim view on romance and courtship, he wasn't really nervous for the night's date. He was thinking more of his general views on dates, but the moment he considered a date with Mitsuha, he seemed to feel calm. The anxiety remained, enclosed in a comforting bubble of tranquility. In stead of wishing to flee or postpone, as he had done several times before in college, he wanted to call her up right then.

_Probably best not to, though._

Taki sat back at his desk an hour later. It was true that he had been overworking himself, these past days he had gone to sleep to the sound of birds everyday. However, he couldn't help it. The design that had seemed to him so interesting back in the office seemed to be a sad excuse once he had actually represented it on paper. Such work would never help him recover from his grades, he'd have to do much better. There was a problem, though. Back in school, he used to have a high degree of natural creativity. Abstract concepts seemed to interconnect and birth real implements in his mind, without much extra effort. Since then, though his grasp of the abstract remained as firm as ever, the natural connections he used to see had disappeared. That day, at the Yamamoto office, it seemed to have come back again. He had been looking over the plans of the famous Yoshikawa Headquarters, designed by Yamamoto himself, that were displayed in the lobby. Ideas seemed to course into his head, multiple ways to optimize better the resources Yamamoto had built with. Those ideas had been what had been in his mind when he had promised Yamamoto an original design. Now, though, he wasn't so sure. Would an established expert not look at such an attempt as an insult, and rightfully? After all, who was he but an unemployed architecture graduate. Tucked away in the corner of the room was the first design, a revision of Yamamoto's plan. Taki didn't intend to use it, he needed something different. An original plan good enough to catch the eye of one of Tokyo's most succesful architects.

Two hours later, Taki sighed as he threw yet another crumpled sheet into the basket. It was no use, he couldn't concentrate. Every time he let his mind wander even a little bit, it made a beeline for the coming dinner and the various scenarios in which it could go wrong. Swinging away from his desk, Taki propped his feet up on the bed and began imagining how a hostage situation would go.

Mitsuha cursed gently as her weather app updated for the day, switching from a shining sun to thundering clouds.

_Heavy rain and thunder expected later in the evening._

Mitsuha looked up from her phone at her friends as they shuffled into the seats across the table. The hours spent walking from shop to shop had taken it's toll on Tessie who sprawled on his end of the couch. Sayaka on the other hand was positively beaming, her friend was about to go on her first date, for an engaged woman there was an odd sense of maternal pride in the entire process of helping her.

"So, Mitsuha, isn't it time you came clean about who this guy is?"

Mitsuha had deflected throughout the day but now she knew she was cornered. There wouldn't be any clothes to suddenly exclaim at and rush toward in the food court.

"I'm kind of embarrassed, can't we skip it?"

"No, we need to know who the guy is."

"Fine, what do you need to know?"

"Where did you meet him?"

The real story still seemed too cheesy to believe, for Mitsuha. Still, if anyone would believe her, it might be the people who had helped her commit domestic terrorism.

"We...we kind of met on a train."

"Oh? He looked that good?"

"Shut up! It wasn't like that."

"So he doesn't look good?"

Mitsuha glared at her friend. On their arrival at Tokyo, they had all been shuffled into different schools, according to wherever their parents found work. Finding herself a lone transfer student in an urban school, Sayaka had adapted by transforming herself completely. The new girl was more popular, but sometimes Mitsuha found herself longing for the old, rustic friend she once had.

"If you interrupt me one more time I'll stop telling."

"Sorry, sorry. Continue." Sayaka smirked.

"Anyway, we met on a train and kind of hit it of. I know it sounds weird but we went to a cafe right after and set up an appointment for today."

Glancing across the window of a speeding train for a split second seemed too cheesy, on further reflection.

"Sounds like you're skipping a lot. Like why you accepted a date with a guy you saw on a train when you have turned down so many guys before?"

"I guess it's just me getting old, seeing you two I get jealous."

"Trying the fake embarrassing confession route? I'm disappointed."

"Look, this is all I'll say for now. You want more, get some sodium barbiturate."

"Fine, who is he?"

"His name is Tachibana Taki, he is an architect."

"Oh an architect? Know where he works?" Tessie joined the conversation.

"No, we haven't even had our first date yet."

"Well, when you find out let me know. I know lots of architects, I might be able to get information from one of his colleagues."

Mitsuha held up her fork.

"You aren't going to do that."

"Thought you wouldn't allow it, still worth a shot." Sayaka smiled sweetly.

"Still, you must have looked him up. I'm going to anyway but still tell me, what's the most interesting stuff I'll find?"

"Not much. Just some dead social media accounts with photos from when he was younger, there isn't even a recent image of him online."

"Oh, sounds like a personal disappointment for you. So what does he look like?"

"Ordinary, I guess. He has brown eyes-"

"Straight for the eyes? You must really be in love."

"You know what? I'm not telling anymore."

"Don't be like that" Sayaka crooned as she brought her smartphone out of her bag.

"Hmm...born in Tokyo, wait, May 1999?"

Mitsuha cringed.

"So you developed a taste for college boys after leaving college?"

"He's not in college, he's working."

"Sure. Oh look at that, he loves pastries as much as you do."

Mitsuha had already admired Taki's taste in confectionery. As she scrolled through each image, the sense of deja vu she had begun to notice recently had grown stronger, she could taste the pastries from simply their images.

Eventually, Tessie and Sayaka left. Mitsuha had another coffee to kill the time then finally gathered herself up and set off for the Cafe La Boheme.

Taki woke to a soft, golden dusk. He had followed the online tutorial and dressed up perfectly only to find out that it was still 2 PM. Reasoning that a nap before such a stressful encounter could not possibly be harmful, Taki had curled up on his bed. The clock by his bed flashed the number 17:45 at him. He had overslept but not critically. Turning to his phone, Taki found the reason the alarm hadn't gone off. The phone was dead.

Dusk had always been a peculiar time for Taki, or rather it had been for a long time. As he plugged his phone into the charger, Taki felt again the sense of euphoria that seemed to grip him at dusk. An expectation of something that was to happen, though it never actually happened. The rapid descent of the night right after it's end snuffed that hope out each day, yet it happened again on the next. Taki knew environments tended to affect people's psychology but he hadn't yet found any accounts of people who seemed to be experiencing exactly what he was. The scene he dreamed of, on top of the mountain, that too always happened at dusk. His psychologist had talked about how it symbolized a desire for a conclusion to some past chapter in his life, yet it always felt as it the feeling he most associated it was one of opening up a new chapter. As he mechanically went about his tasks before leaving, Taki saw the light in the room slowly fade till at last he had to switch on the electric one. Instead of the haunting feeling of loss that usually accompanied these transitions, though, Taki felt a numbing calmness wash over his body. Instead of disappearing into a dark abyss, he was floating on the back of a gentle breeze to the heavens. Taki shuddered, experimenting with drugs in college hadn't been his best idea.

There were, however, more concrete problems facing Taki. The blank screen of his phone had remained unchanged despite being plugged in, it wouldn't switch on or give any indication that it was charging. Sighing, he prepared himself. They had set up a meeting spot, as long as he was there on time there shouldn't be any complications. Locking the door behind him, Taki looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. At it's very peripheries, some storm clouds could be sighted. Taki regretted having to leave his umbrella behind, however it simply wouldn't do to show up to a date with one.

The breeze began to pick up as Taki neared his destination, a light drizzle had started when Taki got to the meeting spot. Nearing the crowded bus stop shed, Taki found her just as she found him, their gazes locking together for a second before slipping away. Drawing up to the shed, Taki found himself extending a hand in a gradual upward arc.

"Miyamizu san, will we go?"

"Yes, let's, Taki kun."

Mitsuha replied as she grasped it firmly in hers.


	4. Date

The rain increased steadily but impercertibly in severity as Taki and Mitsuha made their way towards the restaurant. Walking rapidly behind Taki, Mitsuha was thankful for the heavy crowd pressing around them. It gave her an excuse to maintain her hold on Taki's hand. All too soon, it seemed to her, they were in front of the restaurant and she had to let go.

Taki walked in without a trace of hesitation and led Mitsuha straight to a window side table with a 'Reserved' placard set on it. Recalling perfectly what he had practiced uncountable times in front of his mirror, Taki pulled back a chair, turned his body thirty degrees and bowed slightly to Mitsuha.

"I didn't know this place had reservations."

"Oh, it doesn't." Taki replied as he sat down opposite to her.

"Then how come?"

"I know the staff."

"So you're a regular here?"

"Well, I used to be, but not of the customer variant."

Mitsuha felt vaguely uneasy. The sense of deja vu she had associated with Taki had begun acting up again, yet it felt more like memories than deja vu as she had increasingly begun to realize. Memories, but very vague, the kind she had of the few days she drank herself to sleep in college.

"So you were an employee here?"

"Uh huh, for three years in school."

"Tell me, is this place modelled on some other restaurant?"

"No, as far as I know. Why do you ask?"

"I feel like I've been here before."

"Maybe you came here before but forgot?"

"Maybe..." Mitsuha trailed off, emphasizing how familiar she felt this place was wouldn't be very good date conversation.

A waiter had appeared meanwhile, Mitsuha asked Taki to order and sat back as he rolled off dishes without consulting the menu.

"You have a good memory, you still remember the menu from your school days?" Mitsuha remarked once the waiter had left.

"Well, I can tell you that I definitely didn't plan out exactly what I would order should I have to three days back."

"That's rather tardy isn't it, I decided four days ago."

"You know what, I misspoke, it was actually five days back."

"Wouldn't that be before we met, Taki kun?" Mitsuha grinned.

"Maybe not."

With the two words, the light mood dissipated. Mitsuha sat straight and leaned forward.

"You remembered something?"

"Perhaps. I dreamed today, and in that dream I heard a woman's voice. Your voice."

"Well, that isn't so surprising, is it?"

"No, it isn't. Then I found this in my wallet on the way here."

Mitsuha stretched her hand out for the tiny slip of paper Taki held. It was the bill from the cafe.

"What's it's significance?" Mitsuha asked as she held it aloft against the light.

"The name of the card holder."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you by any chance related to Toshiki Miyamizu, the mayor of Itomori?"

Mitsuha froze. She had intended to clear the air on her origins eventually, she had even considered telling him that very day should the date go exceptionally well. Talking it over with Sayake, she had realized that it wasn't too bad as lies went, she could just tell the truth and explain her earlier lies by citing the conspiracy theorists. Taki discovering the truth independently and confronting her over it hadn't however been something she had prepared for.

"I apologize, I lied to you at our first meeting. Yes, I am related to Toshiki Miyamizu, he is my father. I'm not from Gifu, before Tokyo I lived in Itomori and I moved here at the time of it's destruction. I have concealed my identity from most people I know to avoid questions about the incident and so the lie has become a truth in a fashion for me, of those I interact with on a regular basis only a small fraction know my true origins. Can you forgive me?"

Taki could barely believe his ears. When he had heard she was not from Tokyo, he had been sure she would be from Itomori. When she stated she was from Gifu, he had been disappointed though he had been careful to not let it show. With the discovery of her surname, he had hoped again that she might somehow tangentially be related to the town, a niece of the mayor or something similar. This time, she had ended up giving him far more than he had hoped for, the two great mysteries of his life were now definitely connected.

"My dream, it took place in Itomori."

Mitsuha was the one who was surprised this time. She had imagined a wide range of answers, going through how she would respond to each. The answer he gave, however, left her stunned.

"When I was in my last year of school, I took a trip to Itomori. Two of my friends came along with me on this trip, apparently at night I slipped away from them. I didn't and still don't remember what I did after I slipped away, the next thing I remember is trekking down a mountain. My dream, recurring ever since then, usually starts off on that mountain. Till today, it had been simply been the mountain but today, there were two new elements. Your voice and Tiamat."

"Did you see me?"

"No, I just heard your voice. Actually, there was one more thing, usually it's evening in my dream but this time, it was late afternoon."

_He dreams of me._

Mitsuha bowed her head forward. Visiting Itomori had triggered for Taki some odd reaction, hadn't leaving the town done the same for her? Yet, could homesickness really explain the deep longing she had felt so long? Why would it dissipate on seeing Taki, then? Why did it not change even slightly the few times she had gone back to walk through the abandoned buildings?

"Here's your pasta."

Mitsuha jerked back startled at the sudden noise from her side. The waiter to his credit pretended to not notice and withdrew tactfully.

"Well, that's the extent of my knowledge about our past connections. Did you remember something?"

"No, sorry." Mitsuha replied, the frustration showing clearly in her voice. The connection she had felt hadn't been imagined, there truly was some previous connection between her and the man sitting opposite her. Still, her memory remained stubbornly uncooperative.

"Maybe it'll just take time." Taki offered in a consoling tone.

The rest of the date passed in a normal fashion. The food was enjoyable enough and, with their conversation, the tension dissipated. Mitsuha found herself laughing at Taki's anecdotes of his school life, sharing her own in turn, mostly those from Itomori. Though she had been in Tokyo a long time, it seemed to her that the funniest stories of her life were all from back there. Occasionally, she glanced out the window at the world outside, where the rain continued at a steady pace. All too soon, it seemed to her, they were finishing their desserts. Reluctantly, Mitsuha beckoned to the waiter, wondering to herself if her credit card balance would go red for the month.

The waiter disappeared with her card and emerged a moment later, card in hand. Mitsuha could feel a flush creeping into her cheeks, had she exhausted her limit?

"Ma'am, you are our 500,000th customer. Your bill has been waived."

Mitsuha did her best poker face as she nodded understandingly and took her card back, her luck had never been better. The waiter nodded at Taki with a slight grin as she was hastily stuffing her purse back into her bag and walked away.

Outside, the rain had picked up strength. Howling winds had also started up, such that gusts of rain flew at pedestrians from all sides, negating totally an umbrella no matter how it was oriented. Mitsuha glanced at her wristwatch where the minute and hour hand both pointed to 9.

"You can't wait for much longer, can you?", Taki asked as he peered out into the streets. Mitsuha nodded, it was late and the rain didn't appear to be likely to let up any time soon.

Waving goodbye to Taki, Mitsuha pushed the door open and walked out into the rain. The strength of the wind however caught her unprepared and before she realized what was happening, the umbrella had been wrenched from her hand and flown away beyond her sight.

_I guess this is to balance out my luck with the bill_

Mitsuha stood in the lashing rain, debating the potentialities of chasing behind her umbrella.

"You can't stay out here like this, come with me." Taki was standing in front of her.

"If you try to go back home in those clothes you'll definitely catch a cold. You can dry them at my house."

"Your house?" Mitsuha was sure she could feel steam coming off her cheeks.

"Yeah, it isn't optimal but you can't go back home like this."

_He's right, why am I getting embarrassed about this? _

Mitsuha nodded her assent, falling in behind Taki as he walked rapidly towards his home. Finally, they were out of the rain and, leaving a trail of water not unlike the trail of blood left in horror stories, they both marched up the stairs towards Taki's apartment. As she climbed the stairs, she suddenly remembered that the second step after the first floor was chipped.

_That's stupid, I haven't been here before. How would I know if it is chipped? _

Turning to ascend the next flight, Mitsuha felt uneasy as her eyes locked on to the second step. It was chipped, and to the exact extent she remembered.

_Oh well, all stairs look alike I guess. Probably just a coincidence. _

Even as she reassured herself, however, Mitsuha didn't truly believe herself. Deja vu had returned in strength, she felt sure she had been to the building before.

Taki had paused before her as he fished around his pocket for the keys.

_Wrong door._

Taki seemed puzzled as he tried to fit the key into the lock.

"Uh is this the right door?"

Mitsuha didn't know why she felt so strongly that it wasn't. However, her curiosity had been peaked by the stairs and she needed to see if another coincidence would be forthcoming.

"Would you believe it? I was trying to open the neighbour's door." Taki chuckled nervously as he moved towards his apartment.

"How did you know, though?" Taki asked once they were inside.

"Well all the doors here look similar and since your key wasn't working I guessed."

"I see. Wait here, I'll get a bath ready for you and clothes, I'll see if I can find something of my mother's."

Mitsuha sat on a chair after Taki left and looked around the room. There was no doubt in her mind, she knew it. She stood up and walked to a corner where she felt a painting should be hanging. Sure enough, on closer inspection, the wall there was slightly off colour compared to the surroundings. As she had grown up, she had grown to become skeptic of the supernatural, yet here she was, with knowledge she definitely couldn't have acquired naturally.

"The bath's ready, whenever you are."

Taki had returned.

"This place, was there a painting here before?"

"Wow, you're rather observant. Yes, it fell down during a storm and the glass cracked so I had to throw it out."

Mitsuha nodded slowly, turning to face him.

"I'll take it now then."

Though Taki showed her the way, she felt she already knew it before. Locking herself into the bathroom, Mitsuha thought. The alcohol from the dinner was muddling her thoughts, however, and she couldn't figure out anything. She doubted if she could even with all her mental faculties, the nearest parallel she knew to what she was seeing was the case of those who claimed to remember a past life, people she had always believed to be either frauds or delusional. Besides, Taki was entirely too young and alive for her to have been him in a past life.

Shaking her head in confusion, she submerged herself in the bath.

As she was drying herself off, she checked her phone and searched for weather updates. A hurricane that had been expected to skirt Tokyo in such a manner that only it's peripheries would come into contact with it had apparently turned inland and the decided to pass directly over the city. Heavy rain and winds was expected till next morning.

Outside, Taki had been watching the news for the same reason. As she entered the room, he turned to her with a worried face.

"So, don't take this in a wrong manner but I don't think it's very feasible for you to return home this night.", he said as he pointed towards the TV.

"I've already caused you so much trouble, I'll try to make my way back."

"You haven't caused any trouble and coming here will be pointless if you go back now, you'll get wet just the same."

Mitsuha knew he was right, however the alternative embarrassed her. It wasn't that she was paranoid, but imagining Yotsuha's barbs if she was gone the night of her first date, even if there were extenuating circumstances, was painful. Still, she couldn't help it.

She bowed her head in acceptance.

"Then may I stay here till tomorrow morning?"

"Of course. My father's gone on a business trip so I'll prepare his bed for you."

"Thank you very much."

"Don't mention it."

She settled into the couch across for him, sighing silently as she sank into the soft material.

"Are you tired?"

Mitsuha could feel her eyes drawing together on their own however it seemed to her that falling asleep immediately wouldn't be very good ettiquette.

"Not particularly."

"Well then, can I offer you a drink?"

"Sure, what do you have?"

Taki walked towards the fridge and peered inside, clucking in disappointment.

"Apparently nothing other than kuchikamisake."

"What?"

"Relax, it's a joke. You were a shrine maiden, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but don't joke about that. Triggers my PTSD, imagine drooling in front of an audience."

"Probably would be embarrassing. Still, I'd be pretty honoured if the Gods wanted my drool that bad."

"Well I guess that's one way to look at it."

Taki put a bottle of beer in front of her and sank on to the floor with his back to the wall with another.

As conservation flowed, Mitsuha slowly emptied her bottle. The extra alcohol was, however, a bit too much. Her brain was shutting down, she kept losing the thread of conversation. At some point, Taki had fallen asleep however she couldn't find the strength to rise and rouse him or go to the bed he had prepared. Setting the bottle on the floor, she closed her eyes for an instant, to regain the necessary energy as she told herself, and fell fast asleep.

Threads flew by her, weaving through each other. A shoe knot here, a hang man's knot there, innumerable ones she could not recognize. Twisting and turning, they flew by her or rather she flew by them. Then suddenly she was diving head first into a thread, and the scenery changed. She was at the mountain shrine and in front of her, a man's figure stooped as he extended a hand towards a container. Her container, she realized. She felt a furious blush come over her and she extended her hand, screaming at him not to drink it. He seemed to be beyond her reach, however, and if he heard her he didn't pay much attention. He drank all of it and then as if struck, he collapsed on the floor.

She awoke again on the floor. Harsh sunlight was filtering through the window, it was obviously past morning. Worried, she quickly stood up. She felt disoriented, like her natural point of view had been altered. That was when her eyes fell on the figure slumped in front of her on a couch, sleeping without a care in the world. She pinched herself, surely she must be dreaming. The figure that seemed to be showing the first signs of waking in front of her was Mitsuha.


	5. Discovery

Taki snapped his eyes shut a moment after opening them, it was far too bright for the immediate moments after waking. As he started to slowly grow more aware of himself, Taki found he was lying on the couch, his bare legs rubbing on the point where the fabric had torn and raised itself up into a jagged edge for years.

_Bare legs?_

Taki's mind flew to the previous night, why did he go to sleep in his boxers? It was a bit hazy but it was still too prominent in his mind, his last memory was that of talking to Mitsuha in the drawing room.

_Did we?_

Photo sensitivity forgotten in a flash, Taki opened his eyes and pushed himself up to a sitting position. It was then that he realized that what he was wearing wasn't a boxer.

_Just what did I do yesterday?_

Bending down, he felt his leg. It seemed slenderer than he remembered but he rationalized that was probably just the result of his recently awoken mind's confusion. The lack of hair couldn't possibly due to the confusion though. It was then that he noticed that his shirt, too, seemed like something he would never wear. And what were the bulges?

Stuffing his hand inside his shirt, Taki reached for what he felt sure must be pads. He still didn't know why he had put them on but he wasn't about to stay in them now that whatever had come over him had passed.

"Aaaaaahhh."

Taki turned hastily towards the source of the scream. With a loud bang, the door of the bathroom was slammed open and hurried footsteps could be heard coming towards him. Dazed by the scream, Taki froze. The pounding footsteps were almost at the door and the next moment a man burst in, blushing a furious red.

Taki felt his knees weaken as he stared at his doppelganger. It would've been unnerving enough to meet him in public, yet here they were in close quarters and the man had a murderous intent on his face. Stories flashed through his mind, horror stories where people were replaced by lookalikes till the protagonist stopped their diabolical schemes or perhaps a spy story where an American would pull of his face mask while standing over Taki's dead body. Perhaps his dad was actually a secret agent and his identity was needed to get to him, the weekly business trips had increased in frequency lately.

"Get your hands away you pervert."

Did monsters or spies call their marks perverts? Still, it seemed like the wise decision would be to comply.

"Are…. are you Taki kun?"

As muddled as his brain was, Taki still felt that the development was unnatural. They had gone to the trouble of getting another man who looked exactly like him but they didn't know his name?

"I guess."

The man in front of him seemed to ease up a little.

"I suspected it but I had to be sure. How do you think this happened?"

"Huh, how did what happen?"

"You haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

The man seemed crestfallen.

"You have my brain don't you?"

"What are you even talking about?"

The man held up a phone. It was showing a live feed of his room, from a camera hidden somewhere in the curtains.

Taki felt his head spin a bit and almost lost balance, stumbling a bit before regaining it. In the feed, Mitsuha acted in perfect synchronization.

"Wha…"

He looked up at the man who was observing him grimly.

"Are you?"

"Yes"

Taki collapsed on the couch, the entire thing was a bit too realistic to be a dream. Besides, he had been dreaming before hadn't he, in real life you didn't wake up from a dream to another dream.

Mitsuha sat beside him.

"If you are wondering if it's a dream, I already looked up several common ways to tell. I can read normal text, cognitive functions seem to be normal and inducing pain doesn't tear the fabric of reality apart."

Taki shook his head.

"Then what is this?"

"Perhaps a repeat of something that has happened before?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this would explain a lot about our 'connection', wouldn't it? Do you remember what you said about looking at me across the window when we first met?"

"That I was looking at a mirror?"

"Yes, perhaps you did look at a mirror, you certainly can right now."

"Hang on, isn't that reaching a bit?"

"Taki kun, I didn't want to bring up my suspicions yesterday but I know this house, as well as my own."

"What do you mean?"

"The picture in the corner, it was of a sail ship wasn't it?"

"If you're in my body, maybe you got that from my memory?"

"No, I knew there was a picture there yesterday, look closely there's practically no distinguishing mark left and in any case I'm not Sherlock Holmes. Also, I felt you were at the wrong door when we were about to enter yesterday."

"I'm fairly certain I'd remember swapping bodies if it happened before."

"There are worrying memory gaps in my past. You too, you can't remember why you went to Itomori or what happened there, can you?"

Taki nodded, defeated.

"I was apparently able to predict what happened the day Tiamat crashed. You know about the conspiracy theories?"

"Yeah, I did a bit of research on that day."

"Well then you'll know that my father has been accused of everything from covering up an American cruise missile misfire, something about meteor rocks not being able to melt steel bridges I think, to collaborating with aliens planning the destruction of this world."

"Yeah."

Taki felt somewhat guilty, it was obvious that the theories angered Mitsuha. Still, the post that had spawned the alien theory had been a rather high quality one, there had been some fancy mathematics about the probability of a meteor's fragments striking the exact same coordinates twice.

"The reason he didn't ever release a proper statement, the reason he shut himself up in his room for months to escape the media, the reason the report is still classified is to protect me. I was the one who browbeat him into holding that drill, apparently I told him exactly what would happen though he did not believe me. Once it did happen, I could no longer recall why I was so sure it would. I had hurt my head but amnesia couldn't explain how I had knowledge that even astronomers didn't. And…there was something written on my hand."

"What?"

"I'll tell you, once I'm sure of my theory. Now your obsession with Itomori, when did it start?"

"When the meteor struck."

"Well that's normal. So when did you go there?"

"2016."

"Three years later? Why?"

"Like I said, I don't remember."

"Three years…Taki kun, you are 22 now right?"

"Yeah, and four months."

"For a woman you sure are open about your age."

"For someone who is in a stranger's body you sure are in too light a mood."

"I'm sorry, it was just there, I couldn't help myself."

"Anyway, why did you want to know?"

"I" Mitsuha stressed the male pronoun, "am 25. That makes us three years apart. Yet another coincidence."

"Spooky."

"Well, okay, maybe that isn't very substantial. Still, you do acknowledge that there are just too many coincidences surrounding us for it to be normal, right?"

"I'd say our current position is abnormal enough, even without the coincidences."

In the silence that descended on them, Taki tried to think. He might have just woken up but it was still shameful that the veteran of conspiracy theories from Hawaii to Hokkaido hadn't been able to contribute one insight into the most unrealistic situation he had ever faced. Perhaps if he were to freshen up.

"I'm going to the toilet."

"What? No you aren't."

"Why?"

"Well going to the toilet would mean…"

Taki realized why she was blushing, why hadn't it struck him before?

"But I need to go, I promise I won't look."

"You'll still be taking my clothes off, it's wrong."

"If your theory of us doing this before is correct, it won't be anything new right?"

Mitsuha gulped, she genuinely did think her theory was correct and if it was then Taki was right, still she didn't feel comfortable.

"Hang on, I drank a lot yesterday. Are you telling me you haven't had to…"?

"No I went; I just didn't look."

"Well then, I'll do as you did."

When he returned, Taki found Mitsuha on the phone. From the husky voice, he guessed that an artificial cold had been concocted, at least that would allow her to talk without giving them away.

"Yes, I have to leave on a work trip immediately."

"But all your clothes are here."

"I'll buy new ones."

"Ooh got yourself a rich boyfriend?"

"Why would you say that?"

"Too much shoujo manga probably, isn't going off on a trip without any planning a rich people thing? Is it Paris or Venice?"

"I just told you it was a work trip."

"Well they do say that relationships take 'work'."

"Why are you so convinced about this?"

"It definitely doesn't have anything to do with Sayaka san's Twitter, you can be sure of that."

"Idiot" Mitsuha muttered once she cut the call.

"Family?" Taki asked from the door.

"Unfortunately. Listen, I have an idea. Were there any places you frequented other than your work and home?"

"Well, school."

"That doesn't help, we can't go wandering about a school at this age."

"School and work were pretty much the only places I went to regularly."

"While they do make me feel like I know them, it isn't enough so far. However, if my theory is correct, you too took my place."

Mitsuha paused for a second

"My memory gaps are from when I was 16, that was also when my friends said I would behave erratically on occasion. Apparently I grew a lot more aggressive, it was like I had a personality flip."

"That's weird, my friends too say I seemed to become a different person around that age I think. Yeah, it was when I was 16, I remember now. Okudera senpai still brings up something I sewed for her occasionally, I can't even sew shirt buttons though."

"That seems to go against my theory. If we were switching at the same time, you should have been 13 when it happened. I don't think a 13 year old would've been able to do 10% of the things my alter ego was doing though. But sewing, you said? I'm decent enough at it, and how are you this old without being able to sew on a button?"

"Did you just comment on a girl's age?"

"Touche" Mitsuha smiled as she sat on the couch, "Tell me, don't you think how quickly we accepted this thing is weird?"

"To a degree, yeah. Feels like a badly written story, there should've been a lot more 'kyaahs' and being slammed into walls."

"Right? But it seems almost natural to me, I genuinely didn't even notice that I was a man till I saw you snoring away."

"I guess the surrealism of the entire thing ate away at the surprise factor."

"Maybe. Anyway, how do you feel about a trip to my homeland?"

"Itomori? Why?"

"I want to see how you react to the places I used to be a regular at. The school and my house still survives, and I might know where you had gone when you climbed the mountain."

"I'd love to but I have an interview on Wednesday."

"Then unless you'd like to send someone who doesn't know the difference between a Gothic and Dorian column to it, we have to fix this soon, right?"

"Maybe if we just fall asleep."

"I can't fall asleep right now, not unless you manage to find my former sociology professor. If it doesn't work this night, we'll just waste a day. Better to use it productively."

Taki sighed.

"I'll get my suitcase."

It felt nice to have someone else carry his luggage around, it wasn't particularly heavy but Taki still couldn't help gloating over the small advantages of being a woman. It was afternoon by the time they got down at the small station near Itomori, deserted save for the rail employees.

"It'll be evening soon; we should save the city tour for tomorrow. Let's visit the shrine now."

"You're a praying person, huh?"

"Given all the stuff that has been happening it probably won't be the worst idea but no, that's not why I want to go. You said you remember walking down the mountain, right?"

"Yeah, actually I just remembered something else. I kept looking at my palm, there was a single line drawn across it for some reason."

Mitsuha inhaled sharply. It seemed Taki had forgotten her earlier statement about the writing on her own palm, but it was yet another coincidence.

"Well the only people that climbed up that mountain regularly was my family; we were charged with maintaining the shrine to Musubi."

"Is that your local deity?"

"Yeah, you know the corded braid? It was something we made for Musubi."

"I see. So you think I had gone there?"

"It was a place I used to go occasionally, I just want to see if it provokes some reaction in you. If you went there yourself, that's just a bonus."

Taki felt himself run short of breath, even as Mitsuha bounded ahead with the help of his body over the steep mountain path.

"It wouldn't kill you to improve your leg muscles you know?"

"I think your wheezing is quiet cute though."

Taki felt odd. Usually, he could come up with a comeback and even if he couldn't immediately, it came to him a few minutes later. Ever since switching bodies though, his mind was functioning weirdly.

"Hey, are you feeling any differences, mentally?"

Mitsuha had been waiting for him at a turn, whistling softly.

"Yeah, I was wondering when you would notice it. I'm guessing this is a side effect of our body swap, probably physical differences also manifest in our mind. That or it's placebo effect, your guess."

"I definitely hope it's placebo effect."

On reaching the peak, Taki could see the sky on all sides, the gentle afternoon sun bathing it in a golden hue. Though he was visiting it after five years, Taki had dreamed of that very spot too frequently to find it fresh. Still, it was a nice view, one he could really have enjoyed with Mitsuha, he realized, if he wasn't her at the moment.

Mitsuha didn't seem to have an eye for the sky, though. She was marching determinedly towards a cave. Taki hurried after her.

The stream of water seemed familiar, but Taki couldn't be sure. Mitsuha had plowed ahead, into the cave without a look back.

Taki entered the cave to find Mitsuha clutching a small Earthen pot.

"What's that?"

"Never mind that." She huffed as she quickly hid it behind her back.

"So, remember anything?"

"This place does seem familiar; I might have been here that night."

"I see. Did you happen to be drunk that night?"

"Now that you mention it, I was a little buzzed I guess. It might have been because of fatigue though."

"It wasn't. You were most definitely drunk; you really are a pervert aren't you?"

"Hey, what's with that?"

He wasn't sure but he thought in the darkness he could see the glint of a smile on Mitsuha's face.

"Welcome back, masters."

Taki jumped at the deep voice as it boomed around the cave.

"What was that?"

"Do you wish to be returned the memories you had given to me for safekeeping?"

"Who…"

Mitsuha broke in.

"When did we do this?"

"I can tell you or I can show you. Which one would you prefer?"

"Hmm….3D or 2D?"

"Master?"

"Show us, and before you do you are Musubi right?"

"Yes, master."

"Why are you calling us master?", Taki broke in.

"Now, now, Taki kun." Mitsuha chided, "Let the suspense exist a bit longer."


	6. History

Mitsuha's first instinct was that she was flying. Her second was more accurate, she wasn't falling. Yet looking down, she was not sure she could fall in the first place. All around her, there seemed to be simply a bright white light, brilliant but somehow not harsh to her eyes. It didn't appear to have a source, even if she cupped her hands the space inside stayed as brightly lit as that without.

__This is the beginning of your story.__

She looked around for a source, but she could not find any.

__This is a projection based purely on your past knowledge and not your memories. You haven't been created yet, though the moment of birth is close.__

Sure is a clean OT, she thought to herself.

__This is matter. That is, all the matter there is in the Universe. Though it is calm now, there is only one factor missing to turn it into the first version of the Universe that exists today. Can you guess what that is? I'll give you a hint, it is necessary to cause anything.__

"Time", Mitsuha whispered.

_Yes, correct to the both of you._

"Both of us?"

_Both of you are watching the same scene, just in separate dimensions. Don't worry, I'll put you two back together when it's TIME!_

The light seemed to shimmer, dim and grow brighter in small bursts. Almost unnoticeable at first, the bursts soon grew to be sufficient to trigger epileptic fits, yet again Mitsuha did not feel much discomfort.

__Time has met space, in a higher dimension. From now on, there are actions and each causes an effect. Action and reaction, however, requires multiple objects. One shall, therefore, become many. __

In spots, the light was being replaced by blots of darkness, all around her it was gradually becoming darker.

__That is space, the gaps in matter.__

Rapidly now, the gaps grew larger and larger till they began merging with each other. Suddenly, the process stopped.

_The moment of your birth_

Taki was suspended alongside her, his eyes reflecting her bewilderment.

"Well, at least we aren't in each other's bodies anymore.", Mitsuha offered weakly.

A single block of light broke away from the whole, breaking into two as it slowly hurtled away from them. Then suddenly, a red thread materialized in the midst of the gradually growing distance between them. Rapidly extending in both directions, it embedded itself into the two blocks, shimmered and disappeared.

_And that would be mine._

The scenery changed, they were floating in what was nearer to the image of space Mitsuha knew. Pinpricks of light could be seen in every direction, but in front of them floated a behemoth encompassing the entirety of her vision in that direction, for as far as she could see it, the inferno frothed and bubbled. There wasn't any doubt this time, they were near a star. At a distance Mitsuha imagined would have set even their ashes on fire had they been there in reality.

_The consciousness possessed by the One fractured at the moment of creation. Though most of the fragments didn't receive such consciousness, certain segments did. These segments yearned instinctively for nothing more than a return to the Whole, for their in state they felt incomplete. Yet, that was impossible, Time is a wheel that cannot be turned back. The conscious fragments did, however, seem to possess an exclusive property, gravity. Every star you see has at it's core a conscious being, and every one of it's orbital bodies a small fragment of it's consciousness. At the moment of separation, therefore, they reached around for other conscious fragments, though most were not fortunate enough to find any nearby. You were, as you must have realized, exceptions. _

"And you were the link?", Taki's voice was comfortingly back to his own. It wasn't that Mitsuha disliked her own voice but hearing it from another person was simply uncanny.

_Yes, you both invested in me portions of your consciousness. I did not, however, possess a material form and therefore I did not have to be subjects to the forces of physics as you were. Though distance would weaken me, I would never break. No matter how many light years separated you, I would connect you. _

"So then what happened?" Mitsuha spoke up.

_The force of the separation was too strong, you both were flung apart. Your consciousness, Mitsuha, became one of the Universe's first stars, you attracted sufficient matter around you to ignite, something that greatly increased your's and, as a result, my strength. I had fallen dormant at the great distance that existed between you two, however with the increased strength I was revived and you both gained knowledge of each other's position. In a few moments, you will witness your first reunion. _

A streaking jet of fire was hurtling their way.

_Don't worry, it isn't time yet for you to get hit by a meteor. _

Mitsuha had unconsciously clenched her fists as it rapidly closed the distance. It was unnerving, though she knew it wasn't real there was a great sense of dread in her heart as she watched it come at her and, was it remembrance?

"How long back was this?", Taki spoke up from beside her.

_Hmm, I believe in your units it would be...5 billion years ago? _

"There wouldn't happen to be a bank anywhere around here, would there?"

_I enjoyed the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy too, master. _

"Come on, did you have to do that?"

The meteor had meanwhile come on them. Mitsuha closed her eyes as it was kilometers away, preparing for contact she knew would not come. When she opened them, it had passed them by and continued on it's trajectory, straight to the surface of the sun.

There was a explosion as it met it's target, a great wall of flame shot up on all sights and it sunk, leaving merely a few ripples as a mark of it's existence. A few seconds later, even the ripples had disappeared. Then, something began to change. The frothing bubbles grew larger, the jets of flame brighter.

_This was the first time you were reunited since your separation, nine billion years before. None of us knew what was going to happen next. _

The surface was at it this time clearly growing more and more agitated. It seemed like the brightness too was increasing, though Mitsuha was impervious to it as she had been with everything else before she was feeling a chill run down her spine.

_As it turned out, so much of the One's consciousness being in such close proximity was not something that allowed stability. Your gravity well increased substantially in strength, the various bits of matter that used to orbit you fell into increasingly closer orbits till..._

A small planet she hadn't seen so far had entered Mitsuha's vision. At first look, it's orbit looked to be normal yet, looking closer, Mitsuha could discern it's increasing proximity to the star. Closer, closer yet and then finally it collided. The walls of flame were larger this time, and the planet vanished in seconds.

_Well, that happened, repeatedly. As must be obvious, this only served to increase the body of consciousness inside the star and thus accelerated the process even further. It's a sad sight, so I shall show you the end result directly. _

The star had grown noticeably less luminous, and the light that it exude was red rather than the earlier brilliant white. It felt much farther away, though, Mitsuha thought. Was she imagining it?

_We are indeed much father away, our previous location is currently inside the star. _

"Is that a red supergiant?", Taki let out a low whistle beside her.

_Yes, those that you know of are also I believe similar cases. It is very rare for those with a connection to truly be united, most were flung to galaxies too far apart and will not meet for hundreds of billions of years yet. But watch closely, the most spectacular show I have ever seen is about to begin in 3...2...now. _

The star disappeared in a flash of brilliant light. Two plumes of blue flames shot out in opposite directions, the light was reminiscent of the first scenery Musubi had shown her. In the meanwhile, a wave of what appeared to be debris was approaching their position, it passed them by with a speed Mitsuha had a hard time believing could exist.

"Ah damn I forgot the X ray plate at home."

The scenery changed again, now they were in a giant cloud of dust, all around them a sky dotted with innumerable stars.

_Driven apart after a very short period after such long years of searching, you were overtaken by grief, masters. However, that did not exist forever. Eventually, you began to gather around yourself more matter in the way Mitsuha had done before, you were to be the beacon this time and she the seeker. Again, I was revived. However, this time, there was something different. _

They were on the surface of a planet, her's Mitsuha realized. Not only her planet, this was her home. It had to be Itomori but the houses, it didn't make any sense.

_Taki had however not been simply waiting, Earth was his project. Protected from random pieces of debris by the gas giants, on Earth he wanted to experiment with the new forms of matter that had been the parting gift of your separation. The result of these experiments was a new configuration of matter that, infused with only a portion of his consciousness, could over time increase its volume through a process that would seem to defy the Universe's laws. Every consciousness would merge with him on the cessation of it's material body and thus his own abilities increased, allowing him to design increasingly complex configurations. I believe the culmination of these attempts is fairly obvious? _

A baby's cries pierced the heavy silence that hung on them after Musubi had finished speaking. It seemed to be coming from the house in front of them, the house that looked suspiciously like something out of a period movie.

_This is year 797 in your current calendar_

"Cool, I'll definitely find a bank this time."

_That is first contact, as you would call it. Mitsuha, you are currently very far away, it should not be possible for this child to be born. However, with the strengthening of Taki's own power, mine too increased and I was able to reach, not merely through space but also through time. I could not move physical objects through it, of course, so I had to improvise. This is only possible because this site shall be where a part of your physical body will crash in sixteen years, you were barely within my range. _

"So this is before the shrine to you was founded?"

_Indeed, the only ones to know me at this time were you two. Well, not even you two, since the greater portion of your consciousness are both at this time in mortal form where all knowledge acquired before your birth is beyond your reach, though far apart as yet to avoid any issues that you could not resolve because of physical inability. _

"What do you mean by issues?"

_The last time your two consciousnesses were combined, there was a supernova. You get my drift. _

"Ah, that."

_Indeed. Though these forms seemed to hide some aspects of your nature, such as the insane force of gravity generated by the concentration of so much consciousness in such a small area all we knew about them was experimental. If we were going to find out how they did when two came close together, it would only make sense to wait till you both were physically capable specimens and not children. _

"So, what happened?"

_This. _

The scene changed. They were still in the same spot however it was night. Mitsuha raised her eyes and caught sight of the comet's piece as it hurtled towards them, in the distance the muffled sobs of several people could be heard. A wall of dust and debris was flying at them as the flames of the impact reached for the stars and they were back at the cave.

_Do you know how stubborn you people are about not believing dreams? I kept showing you what would happen, kept trying to get Taki there to come here to save you. Nothing, both of you stayed put and tried to play it off as merely dreams. In the end, I tried to switch your vessels to convince you it wasn't a dream but that drained me. I was unable to do much more. Taki managed to survive the impact but it was winter and there weren't any villages nearby, his vessel expired three days later from exposure. You took his place, used his position to bring settlers here..._

"Wait, who was I?"

_Since you got to choose who you would be born as, you really aimed high. It presented quiet a few problems to Mitsuha, I had to constantly show up in her dreams to guide her to avoid suspicion. _

"You didn't answer my question."

_Emperor Junna. _

"Just a second."

Taki was furiously typing on his phone and a moment his face lit up with a devilish grin.

"Have a look at this."

Mitsuha accepted the phone. Emperor Junna's Wikipedia page was opened up, to the section on consorts and children.

"I...I..."

_If you are done, master, will I continue?_

"Yeah, of course."

_Along with the new settlement, a new shrine was founded. I knew that in your next encounter, I would have to switch your vessels however I could not afford to be taken out of the action after just one switch. So, in this place, I gathered power over the years, from the thoughts so many independent fragments of consciousness had of me. The corded braid was designed to reduce the strain of a switch on me, I perfected it's use over generations of swapping the consciousness of dynasts of the Miyamizu clan with outsiders who came through my manipulations to possess such a braid, when your present vessels were born, it was finally time and I set in motion the present chain of events. _

"The present chain?"

_Remember. _

The word seemed to reverberate inside Mitsuha, starting as a soft purr and growing into a loud roar. A crowded Tokyo train, two suspicious friends, a belligerent customer, a cute coworker. A twilight lit mountain, three words written on her palm. It had all come back, had they truly been apart so long?

Turning towards him, she knew Taki remembered too.

"Why did I forget?"

_You had tasked me with judging if bringing you two together could be dangerous. A repeat of last time would have wiped away this world, a world where something truly unique exists. I was supposed to bring you into contact eventually but manipulate events so as to pull you apart should I feel the need to do so. I had begun the first stage of the plan, only. _

"Only?"

_There was a complication I could not handle. _

"What?"

_Her._

From the depths of the cave, beyond the places where the light filtering in from the entrance could be seen, the sound of footsteps arose.

**A/N:This definitely has been the most interesting episode to write, I actually got the basic inspiration from Zenzenzense too. Really would appreciate feedback for the first section especially, I disliked using so much narration but I couldn't find any other method to give so much exposition.**


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